Hi guys.
A couple of weeks ago a few members of the HitFilm crew helped out some friends with
a short film.
If you haven't seen it you can check it out from the link in the description.
In this video I'm going to be taking you through two of the effects from the film, that is
the Wellness Centre sign and the Oculus logo removal on the headset.
For the sign we're going to be using the Geometry effects inside of HitFilm Pro.
If you have Express and have the Starter pack you could use the 3D Extrusion effect.
Let's go ahead and jump in and get started.
We'll begin by taking a look at how I created the Wellness Centre sign in this shot here.
I've got a new Composite Shot with my footage already inside.
Come over to New Layer and select Text.
Because this was shot in 4K, I'll make the width 3840 to cover the screen.
Type the name of the building, in this case, Wellness Centre.
Highlight the title and in the Text panel, increase the size and center it in the frame.
The font I used, called Optimus Princeps, can be found from the link in the description.
To position the text in a three-dimensional way, we have to make the layer itself 3D.
Do that by clicking this icon and then selecting 3D Plane.
In the Controls Panel, adjust the Position, Scale, and Rotation values to place it in
the shot.
The next step is to make sure that the text follows the movement of the camera.
This is going to be basic motion tracking, so I won't go too in-depth.
If you need more help with this step, check out Axel's tutorial for more details.
I created a new Point and named it Track.
I then added a new Tracker to the footage layer and used a double-point track near where
the sign would be.
Apply the track to the Point layer and return to the Viewer screen.
Now what you don't want to do is just parent the sign layer to the track.
Since the text is 3D and the track is only 2D, it might cause some problems.
We're going to split the text off into it's own composite shot.
This will also allow you to create a proxy later on, which will speed up your workflow.
Right-click the text layer and select Make Composite Shot.
I'm going to temporarily bring the base footage into this comp, so that I can see what the
sign will look like without having to go back and forth between composites.
Let's add the Extrude Geometry effect to the text layer.
In the Controls panel I'll change the Face to Back.
You might need to reposition the text to make it look better.
Dropdown the Materials properties.
Checkmark Casts Shadows and both Ambient Occlusion options.
Right away we've got some added depth and shadow areas.
Under Environment Map, select Use Layer, and then choose the footage layer in the next
dropdown.
The sign is starting to take on the color of the underlying video.
It's a bit too shiny and bright, so let's create a new Light to include some more shadows.
I'll leave it as a Point light and push it forward in Z space a little.
Then decrease the Intensity to make sure the sign doesn't appear blown out.
In the final shot there is a blue neon light surrounding the sign.
This would be casting light in the real world, so let's go ahead and add that in.
Create another Light, and in the Controls panel change the Type to Directional.
You can find more details about Lights in the online HitFilm manual.
Change the color to blue.
Now I'll adjust the Position so that the light affects the edges of the sign more than the
front.
Decrease the Intensity if needed.
Once you've got the look of the sign down, turn off the main footage layer and come back
into the original composite shot.
Parent the composite to the track Point.
If you're happy with how it looks, right-click the composite and select Make Proxy.
I'll ground the sign in the shot some more with a Drop Shadow effect.
Adjust the settings to best fit your scene.
Before we move on to removing the Oculus logo, I'll show you how to create a simple neon
outline.
In HitFilm Pro you can use the Neon Path effect on a mask, but right now we'll take a look
at a technique that works in both Pro and Express.
Create a new white Plane if you don't have one already.
Hide it from view so that the video below is visible, then grab the freehand mask tool.
You could also use the rectangular or ellipse mask if your shot calls for it.
I'll draw a simple rectangle around where I want the line to be.
Turn the layer back on and come into the Controls panel.
Feather the mask a bit in the Shape dropdown.
Duplicate the mask.
Bring the Expansion down by 2 or 3 pixels.
Set the Mask's Blend to Subtract.
Now drop on the Neon Glow effect to finish it off.
Drop the Expansion to around 10 and set the Blend to Add.
Change the color to match the light on your text and bring down the Intensity as needed.
Parent this Neon Line layer to the Track as well.
Next up is how I removed the Oculus logo from the front of this VR headset.
We'll be using the Clone Stamp effect, and if your shot calls for it, Brightness and
Contrast, so this is possible in both Pro and Express.
Here's the shot, and you can see the shiny Oculus logo in the front.
The first thing I'll do is duplicate the layer.
I need to draw and keyframe a mask around the logo in order to isolate it.
Select the freehand mask tool and draw your shape.
It doesn't really matter where in the scene you start.
Now you need to isolate the logo with the mask throughout the shot.
In the Controls panel, activate keyframes for the Path property.
Go through your footage and align the mask to cover the logo for the duration of the
scene.
It might help if you uncheck the mask so that you can see the whole thing.
You might be asking yourself why I'm not motion tracking this logo, either in HitFilm or even
in Mocha.
That's because I did try that, and it did not work.
The shininess of the logo interrupted the track every couple of frames, and because
of the motion blur the logo itself was sometimes completely invisible.
I'll turn the mask back on and make the layer into it's own composite shot, moving the mask
with it.
This is because the Clone Stamp will use this layer's alpha channel to select a piece of
the footage to duplicate.
Move the composite down a few pixels.
The area that this roto covers is what will be cloned.
Then hide this layer from view.
Create a new Plane and drop both the Demult and Clone Stamp effect onto it.
The Demult is to get rid of the black.
In the Clone Stamp settings, set the Clone Mask to the Roto layer and lower the Blur
to 0 for now.
Since this effect is on it's own plane, we have to tell the Clone Stamp where to pull
the footage from.
Change Clone From to Selectable Layer and then choose the main video under Clone Source.
Come down into the target settings, and adjust the Position until the clean section covers
the logo.
You can see that the data is being pulled from where we placed the Roto composite shot.
Come back up to the top and raise the Mask Blur to blend it in.
Now, ideally, we'd be done.
But unfortunately the texture of the headset changes so drastically that the shades of
gray don't match at some points, even if they're only an inch or two apart.
I'm going to apply a Brightness and Contrast effect to the Plane.
Activate keyframes for the brightness, and now you can go through and make sure that
the shades of gray are the same throughout the shot.
Similar to masking, this part can be tedious, but it had to be done.
That's it for today.
Be sure to let us know what you thought of the short film and if you have any questions
down below.
Subscribe, hit the bell icon, and I'll see you all in the next video.